In the "villages of love", this paradise of love for simpletons, the sea of ​​passion cannot be scooped up. In the fun quarter, Sonezaki is always full of cheerful guests, they bawl songs, make faces, imitate their favorite actors, dance and mock. From all the houses of fun you can hear rollicking music, funny busting of the Shamisen. How to resist here and not go. Another miser wants to come in, but is afraid of losing all his money. But the handmaids drag the guests by force. Such a person will enter the house of fun, and there he will be trained, fooled, fooled, his wallet will be shocked. Mombi celebrate here especially fun - geter holiday! That is why the guests make fun of themselves, laughed at it, and the getters only need it, the softened guest is the ginger guest.

Among the flowers of the cheerful quarter, another beautiful flower appeared - a certain Kokharu, she exchanged her lightweight robe for a festive outfit of getters. Her name is strange - Koharu - Little Spring, it portends misfortunes, means that he will die in the tenth month of the year and will leave only sad memories. Kokharu fell in love with paper dealer Jihei, a glorious young man, but the owner of the house of love vigilantly watches the heterosexual, does not give her a step to step, and yet another rich merchant Taehei wants to buy the girl and take her far, far away, to Itami. All rich guests left Kotaru, they say all because of Jihe, she loves him too much.

A wiggling monk wanders around the cheerful quarter, depicts a bonsu, a clownish robe on him, a crowd of people following him, running, screaming, and he tells all kinds of stories in a joking manner: about battles, about crazy people who committed suicide because of love. Sings to himself about suicides and is not afraid of sin. Kokharu obeyed him, and then, seeing her foe Tahei, she quickly disappeared into the tea house. But Taehei overtook her and, waving a thick purse with gold coins in front of her nose, began to honor what the ill-disposed Koharu and the miserable merchant Jihei stood on: they say, his comrade is seedy and his family is small and small. Tahei is rich, Tahei is daring, he will outbid everyone, no one can resist him. But Jihei lost his mind, fell in love with beauty, but there is no money! All wealth is scraps, scraps, paper trash, and he himself is an empty pod. So Taehei was boasting, and here - look! - at the gate a new guest - an important samurai with two swords, short and long, under the canopy of the hat - black eyes. Tahei immediately backtracked, they say, he is a townsman, never wore a sword, and rather run as fast as he could. But the samurai is not happy, he appeared on a date with a beautiful woman, and she is sad, sad, and she must be looked after as if she was giving birth, and even the maid carefully examined him in the light of a lantern. And Koharu, bursting into tears, began to ask the samurai whether death is easier - from the sword or from the noose. Here is a strange girl! - the samurai thought, and only a number of drunk glasses with wine returned to him a cheerful mood.

And the whole city of Osaka is booming, there is a chime, commotion from all sides, Jihei is in love with the beautiful Kokharu, and the owners interfere with them, try to tear them apart, because such love is a direct loss to a cheerful house, rich guests scatter like leaves in the fall. In an unfortunate moment, their love was born. But lovers swore at least once to meet before death.

At night, Jihei does not sleep, wanders the streets near the tea house, wants to see Kohara, his heart is full of anxiety about her. And then he sees her in the window, she is talking with a samurai guest, her face is thin, sad, pale. Samurai is not happy, it's hard to spend time with a girl in love. He understands that the lovers decided to die together, and persuades the girl to abandon his intention, offers money - as much as ten gold. But Koharu answers the guest that they cannot be helped, she must serve the cruel masters for another five years, and then there are other dangers - some rich man can redeem her. So it’s better to die together, because such a life is shameful. But death is terrible, it scares, and how people will start laughing at her dead disfigured body. There is also an old mother in a distant village ... Ah, no, just not that, do not let me die, good lord. Koharu is weeping, her opposite torment torments her soul. Jihei hears all this and becomes furious: “Oh, you are a corrupt fox! The infamous liar! " and grinds his teeth. But geter asks, begs the samurai to protect, saved her from the proud Jihe, to help her hide from him. Jihei cannot stand it and hits the window with his sword, he did not reach Koharu's chest, but wounded his heart - she recognized her hand and blade. The samurai instantly jumped up, grabbed Jihei, tied him up and laced him with a strong cord to the house. He grabbed Koharu in an armful and disappeared into the back of the house. Ji-hei remained shameful, like a burglar or a tramp. Tahei appears and begins to reproach the opponent, a fight breaks out between them. Spectators are gathering, they are laughing, shouting, nagging. A samurai pops up, Tahei runs away, a samurai takes off his hat - this is the older brother of Jiro Magoemon. Jiro in horror: “Shame on me!” Magoemon reassures his brother, you see what your beloved is, you love her for two years and do not know, and I immediately looked into the depths of her black soul. She’s a badger, and you have two beautiful children, a big shop, and you are only ruining the business because of a corrupt girl. Your wife, and my sister is tormented because of you, and her parents cry and want to take her daughter home from shame. But now I’m not a respected samurai by everyone, but a buffoon in a procession at a holiday. Jihei echoes him: my heart sank with anger, for so many years I devoted myself to all this sly fox, neglecting children and my wife, and now I repent bitterly. He grabs letters with vows and throws Kohara in the face, and she throws his messages to him in response. And then some other letter falls out, it says: "From Ms. Sun, the wife of a paper merchant." Koharu wants to wrest the letter from the hands of the samurai, but he does not give it back and calmly reads the letter. Then he solemnly announces that he will keep this secret; Koharu is grateful to him. Enraged Jihei strikes Kohara, she is filled with tears. Brothers are removed. Koharu weeps alone. So whether she is faithful to her lover or not, the secret is contained in the letter of Jihe's wife, but the samurai strictly keeps a secret.

Jihei is dozing in his shop, his wife O-san arranges screens, protecting her husband from the through wind. Around the kids, servants and handmaids. Magoemon and the mother of two brothers are approaching the shop. Jihei was soon awakened, and he pretended not to sleep, but, as it should be for the merchant, checked the accounts. Magoemon lashes out at Jihei. The scoundrel, a liar, tricked him, again came up with a beautiful hetero, just tossed her letters, and he was going to redeem her from a bad house. Jihei refuses, they say, rich Tahei wants to buy it, but not he. The wife stands up for her husband, of course, this is not him, but a completely different person, as you know, Tahei does not bite money. And Jihei gives his relatives a written vow according to all the rules on sacred paper to break with Koharu forever. If it lies, then all the gods will bring down on him punishment: the Great Brahma, Indra, four heavenly princes, Buddha and bodisattvas. Everyone is happy and happy, O-San's wife rejoices: now she has a firm promise in her hands from her husband. Relatives leave, and Jihei falls to the floor, pulls a blanket over himself and weeps. The wife reprimands him, she is tired of remaining alone in the nest, like a talker egg. Jihei weeps not because of love for Kohar, but because of hatred for Tahei, who managed to seduce her and now redeems and takes her to his distant village. But Koharu vowed to him never to marry a rich man, but better to commit suicide. Here O-San is frightened and starts screaming that he is afraid: Koharu will certainly commit suicide, and the punishment for this will fall on O-San. After all, it was O-San who wrote a letter to Geter and begged her to part with her husband, because small children will die, and the shop will go bankrupt. And Koharu wrote in response: "Although my beloved is more precious to me than life, I refuse it, obeying an inevitable duty." Yes, we women, having once fallen in love, never change our feelings. Ji-hei is terribly afraid, he realizes that his lover will certainly end his life. Spouses are filled with tears, where to get so much money to buy Kohara. O-San takes out his savings - all she has is four hundred momme. But this is not enough, new outfits, sleeveless jackets, a black kimono with emblems are used - things that are dear to O-San's heart, bequeathed, not worn. Let all of them now have nothing to wear, but the main thing is to save Koharu and the good name of Jihei. But, having bought Kohara, where to lead her, because you have nowhere to go, Jihei exclaims. About yourself, you didn’t think how scary I was to blame. Jihei with the servants goes to lay the dress, and then to meet his father-in-law - he goes to take his daughter O-san home, because she is treated so badly here. But Jihei swears that he will love his wife and protect her. Relatives quarrel, it turns out that all the dowry in the mortgage shop, that O-San has nothing. Children wake up and cry, but ruthless father-in-law takes away the resisting crying daughter.

Sonezaki’s quarter is dozing, the night watchman’s beater is heard, the hostess tells the maids at the tea house to look after Koharu, because she is now someone else’s property - she was bought by the rich Tahei. So the mistress drops the seeds of those fateful news, because of which lovers leave this life. Jihei wanders around the tea house, his relatives came for him, his children are dragged on his back, his name is Jihei, but he is buried in the shade of the trees. Upon learning that Jihei has left for the capital and that Koharu is sleeping peacefully, the relatives leave. Jihei is tormented by heartache at the sight of her frozen children, asking relatives not to leave the children after his death. Koharu quietly opens the door, they are afraid that the steps will creak, sneaking out of the house. Their hands tremble, hearts tremble. Sneak out of the yard, Koharu is happy, like on New Year's morning. Lovers go to the river.

The escape. Farewell to the twelve bridges.

Lovers rush towards their death, like leaves in the fall, their souls freeze like the roots of trees, which in late autumn burrow deeper into the ground, closer to the underworld. But nevertheless they hesitate and linger on their woeful path, when under the moon they go to where they must end their lives. The heart of a person who is ready to die is immersed in darkness, where frost is only slightly whitening. That frost that disappears in the morning, as everything in the world disappears. Soon their life will be scattered like a delicate scent from the sleeves of Koharu. They walk along twelve bridges and say goodbye on each - through the Plum bridge, the Pine bridge, the Green bridge, the Cherry bridge, the Demon bridge, the Sacred Sutra bridge - these are all bridges of farewells, ancient heroes were also farewell here. The dawn bell will soon sound. Rather - here is a bridge to the island of Heavenly Networks. The lovers say goodbye, they believe that their souls will unite in another world, and they will go into heaven and hell inseparably. Jihei will draw a sword and cut off a lock of his hair, now he is no longer a merchant, not a spouse, but a monk, not burdened with anything earthly. And Koharu cuts off his magnificent black hair with a sword, a heavy knot of hair, as if the knot of all earthly concerns, falls to the ground. The crows scream, as if the underworld was calling them. They dreamed of dying in one place, but it is impossible that people will say. It is getting light, in the temple the monks began to sing, the dawn. But it is difficult for Jihei to distinguish the place on the beloved’s chest where he should immerse the blade - tears will block his eyes. His hand trembles, but Koharu calls for his courage. His sword, earthly cut-off desires, pierces Kohara, she leans back and freezes. Jihei comes to the cliff, he puts on a strong lace from Koharu's dress, loopes his neck and throws himself into the sea. In the morning, fishermen Jihei, Koharu, caught by a net of death, found. And tears involuntarily run into the eyes of those who hear this story.